Ilana Estelle is a mental health and wellbeing advocate who combines educational insight with her personal experience of living with physical, mental, and emotional disabilities.
She holds diplomas in Counselling, Diet and Nutrition, Nutritional Therapy, Psychotherapy and Counselling, and Stress Management. Through her writing, Ilana supports others in navigating their emotional, mental, and physical health challenges.
In addition to writing for The CP Diary, her work has appeared in healthy lifestyle magazines.
Ilana is also the author of three books: Cerebral Palsy: A Story – Finding the Calm After the Storm, Spirituality, Healing and Me, and Survival: The Covid Years – Time for Change.
Food for thought: "I never write to disappear and escape. The truth is exactly the opposite. Most people strike me as escaping and disappearing in one way or another - into their jobs, their daily routines, their delusions about ...
Something inspirational: “Anyone can learn to fight. Hardly anyone learns to think.” TAMSYN MUIR, Gideon the Ninth Muir's quote reminds us that fighting is not just about physical strength; it can mean arguing, resisting ...
Food for thought: “All that you touch You Change. All that you Change Changes you.” OCTAVIA E. BUTLER, Parable of the Sower This quote reminds us that everything we do has an impact, and every experience changes ...
Thanks. Yes, depending on our upbringing we will take on quite a few battle scars along the way, because that's where our battles usually start.
Where some people will always have their own agenda and will only stick around for as long as you have purpose, others will want to go out of their way to help.
When it comes to family of course, we don't choose our family, but it's also not easy to navigate our way around certain family members and as you say we will take on a few battle scars along the way.
Yes, I think it is important to know the difference, and definitely surround ourselves with those who free their time to talk to us, but I also think it's not necessarily a bad thing when someone talks to us when they are free.
Sometimes we just need a few minutes to sit back and think and it is with this reflection that we realise we haven't spoken in a while, and use that time well to catch up.
We don't have to talk to people all the time to be there for them either, as long as we are there when they need us that matters too.
You're absolutely right in what you say. I just wanted to add that in the busy lives we lead it's very easy to forget about what and who are important, and as you rightly say; we just need a few minutes to sit back and think to realise we need to catch up with those who support and care about us.
There's nothing wrong with that but it's always important to make time to catch up, regardless of our busy lives. Life is short, it's what we don't say; it's the effort we don't make that brings about feelings of guilt when life is sometimes cut short through something like an illness.
If someone means that much to us they will always want to make the effort. As long as we tap into people's life and they tap into ours it doesn't matter if it's not constant, but often days turn into weeks; weeks into months and months into years, which then makes it difficult to go back in.
We invariably don't. Too much of a time lapse makes it almost impossible. I've seen that happen too.
Yes, those who are close to us I feel it is very important to talk to them regardless of how busy our lives are; but with those who we get on well with but our paths seldom cross, then it is nice just to catch up every now and again.
That then also shows that we don't need to talk all the time to appreciate each other and how well we get on.
Thanks Tim. Yes, I agree. We must always take time to validate someone's existence because our lives co-exist and revolve around each other. I believe we're more dependent on other people than we think.
Great quote. One of the many skills we need to learn is to only have people in our lives who are good for us.
Unfortunately we take on a few battle scars along the way.
Thanks. Yes, depending on our upbringing we will take on quite a few battle scars along the way, because that's where our battles usually start.
Where some people will always have their own agenda and will only stick around for as long as you have purpose, others will want to go out of their way to help.
When it comes to family of course, we don't choose our family, but it's also not easy to navigate our way around certain family members and as you say we will take on a few battle scars along the way.
Yes, I think it is important to know the difference, and definitely surround ourselves with those who free their time to talk to us, but I also think it's not necessarily a bad thing when someone talks to us when they are free.
Sometimes we just need a few minutes to sit back and think and it is with this reflection that we realise we haven't spoken in a while, and use that time well to catch up.
We don't have to talk to people all the time to be there for them either, as long as we are there when they need us that matters too.
You're absolutely right in what you say. I just wanted to add that in the busy lives we lead it's very easy to forget about what and who are important, and as you rightly say; we just need a few minutes to sit back and think to realise we need to catch up with those who support and care about us.
There's nothing wrong with that but it's always important to make time to catch up, regardless of our busy lives. Life is short, it's what we don't say; it's the effort we don't make that brings about feelings of guilt when life is sometimes cut short through something like an illness.
If someone means that much to us they will always want to make the effort. As long as we tap into people's life and they tap into ours it doesn't matter if it's not constant, but often days turn into weeks; weeks into months and months into years, which then makes it difficult to go back in.
We invariably don't. Too much of a time lapse makes it almost impossible. I've seen that happen too.
Yes, those who are close to us I feel it is very important to talk to them regardless of how busy our lives are; but with those who we get on well with but our paths seldom cross, then it is nice just to catch up every now and again.
That then also shows that we don't need to talk all the time to appreciate each other and how well we get on.
Yes, those kind of catch ups are always nice. I agree. Thanks.
The highest compliment you can pay someone is to take the time to validate their existence. Our lives revolve around our dependence on each other.
Thanks Tim. Yes, I agree. We must always take time to validate someone's existence because our lives co-exist and revolve around each other. I believe we're more dependent on other people than we think.